Simulation of high-energy positron acceleration in an ionized gas, or plasma – a new method that could help power next-generation particle colliders. The image shows the formation of a high-density plasma (green/orange color) around a positron beam moving from the bottom right to the top left. Plasma electrons pass by the positron beam on wave-like trajectories (lines). (W. An/UCLA)

Illustration of the possible layout of the quarks in a pentaquark particle such as those discovered at LHCb. The five quarks might be tightly bonded (left). They might also be assembled into a meson (one quark and one antiquark) and a baryon (three quarks), weakly bound together. (Courtesy: CERN)

Illustration of the possible layout of the quarks in a pentaquark particle such as those discovered at LHCb. The five quarks might be tightly bonded (left). They might also be assembled into a meson (one quark and one antiquark) and a baryon (three quarks), weakly bound together. (Courtesy: CERN)

Artist's impression of dark matter distribution. Left image assumes conventional dark matter theories, where dark matter would be highly peaked in small area in galaxy center. Right image assumes SIMPs, where dark matter in galaxy would spread out from the center. (Original credit: NASA, STScI; Credit: Kavli IPMU - Kavli IPMU modified this figure based on the image credited by NASA, STScI)

This graphic shows the four individual top quark mass measurements published by the ATLAS, CDF, CMS and DZero collaborations, together with the joint and most precise measurement obtained in a joint analysis. The ATLAS and CMS experiment recorded top quark events using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and the CDF and DZero experiments recorded top quark events using the Tevatron collider at Fermilab. Image courtesy ATLAS, CDF, CMS and DZero collaborations. (Credit: CERN/Fermilab)

The bottom part of this illustration shows the scale of the universe versus time. Specific events are shown such as the formation of neutral Hydrogen at 380 000 years after the big bang. Prior to this time, the constant interaction between matter (electrons) and light (photons) made the universe opaque. After this time, the photons we now call the CMB started streaming freely. The fluctuations (differences from place to place) in the matter distribution left their imprint on the CMB photons. The density waves appear as temperature and "E-mode" polarization. The gravitational waves leave a characteristic signature in the CMB polarization: the "B-modes". Both density and gravitational waves come from quantum fluctuations which have been magnified by inflation to be present at the time when the CMB photons were emitted. (Courtesy: SLAC)

A graphic representation of one of the first neutrino interactions captured at the NOvA far detector in northern Minnesota. The dotted red line represents the neutrino beam, generated at Fermilab in Illinois and sent through 500 miles of earth to the far detector. The image on the left is a simplified 3-D view of the detector, the top right view shows the interaction from the top of the detector, and the bottom right view shows the interaction from the side of the detector. (Courtesy: Fermilab)

Workers at the NOvA hall in northern Minnesota assemble the final block of the far detector in early February 2014, with the nearly completed detector in the background. Each block of the detector measures about 50 feet by 50 feet by 6 feet and is made up of 384 plastic PVC modules, assembled flat on a massive pivoting machine. (Courtesy: NOvA collaboration)

Technician Mike Myers checks components of stochastic cooling "kickers," which generate electric fields to nudge ions in RHIC's gold beams back into tightly packed bunches. This system of squeezing and cooling beams has produced dramatic increases in collision rates—and the data coming out of RHIC. (Courtesy: BNL)

Electrostatic protocol treatment lens. The purpose of this device is to transport Antiprotons from the new ELENA storage beam to all AD experiments. The electrostatic device was successfully tested in ASACUSA two weeks ago. (Courtesy: Maximilien Brice)

An artist's conception of the measurement scale of the universe. Baryon acoustic oscillations are the tendency of galaxies and other matter to cluster in spheres, which originated as density waves traveling through the plasma of the early universe. The clustering is greatly exaggerated in this illustration. The radius of the spheres (white line) is the scale of a “standard ruler” allowing astronomers to determine, within one percent accuracy, the large-scale structure of the universe and how it has evolved. (Courtesy: Zosia Rostomian, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

This is the highest energy neutrino ever observed, with an estimated energy of 1.14 PeV. It was detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole on January 3, 2012. IceCube physicists named it Ernie. (Courtesy: IceCube Collaboration)

An aurora australis illuminates the IceCube Lab. The IceCube Laboratory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, in Antarctica, hosts the computers collecting raw data. Due to satellite bandwidth allocations, the first level of reconstruction and event filtering happens in near real time in this lab. Only events selected as interesting for physics studies are sent to UW–Madison, where they are prepared for used by any member of the IceCube Collaboration. (Courtesy: Keith Vanderlinde, IceCube/NSF)

Photomultiplier tubes capable of detecting as little as a single photon of light line the top and bottom of the LUX dark matter detector. They will record the position and intensity of collisions between dark matter particles and xenon nuclei. (Courtesy: Matt Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility)

LUX researchers, seen here in a clean room on the surface at the Sanford Lab, work on the interior of the detector, before it is inserted into its titanium cryostat. (Courtesy: Matt Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility)

White Teflon lines the interior of the LUX detector, to better gather faint signals of light that will be recorded by the photomultiplier tubes (center). (Courtesy: Matt Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility)

The LUX dark matter detector suspended in its protective water tank. The detector is a titanium cryostat—that is, a vacuum thermos—that will keep xenon cool enough to remain a liquid, at about minus 150 degrees F. (Courtesy: Matt Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility)

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